DeicideOvertures of Blasphemy

Deicide have rightfully earned their place as legends in death metal. They've written some of the most important albums in extreme metal history and continued to create intriguing records throughout their three decades of existence. Unfortunately, Overtures of Blasphemy is a sore spot on an otherwise strong track record.

The album begins on an underwhelming and largely forgettable note with "One With Satan," which isn't necessarily bad, but does feel like the band are simply going through the motions. A black metal riff here, a blast beat there, maybe throw in a chugging down-tempo moment and there you have it: a new Deicide track. This is a very common path the band follow throughout.

There are a few great moments on the album, such as the downpicked riffing on "Seal the Tomb Below" or the thrashy intro on "Crucified Soul of Salvation," but even these songs are eventually sullied by lazy writing. It's as if the band found great starting points for songs and couldn't figure out how to fully flesh them out, opting instead to copy-and-paste black metal riffs into the record and cover their sloppiness with ripping guitar solos.

Although there are a few fun riffs spread across the record, it suffers as a whole from having too many uninspired moments that feel repeated throughout. While the band are more than capable of writing killer death metal tracks, Overtures of Blasphemy feels like a phoned-in effort in comparison to their last few albums.
(Century Media)